It's a 3
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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That's great. I could see it was a 3 but I couldn't explain how I knew until I scrolled.
The pattern that the 7 above was also clipped revealing the edge of the 3 also was missed made it click.
Neat!
I wouldn't have caught the 6 over there was clipped though. That's some analysis right there. Thorough.
I think you're right.
The 2's, 7's, and 8's, as well as the letters B, C, D, and L are all 5 dots wide. The 1 is only 3 wide, and the 0 is only 4 wide, but each seems to have a larger gap to the next number. The punctuation (colon and period) seems to be 2 dots wide with significant spacing around them. That suggests this font is a monospaced font with each character 5 dots wide, spaced 2 dots apart.
So it makes sense for 3 to use all 5 dots of width. And the one unambiguous 3 we see is 4 dots wide, placed in a spot approximately one dot too far right. The way you've filled in the 3 makes the most sense, and leads to the straightforward conclusion that the unidentified character is a 3.
I’d say 3, except that the 3 on the line above has a flat bottom line.
If it’s also missing some dots from the middle, it could be part of the second and third columns of a 2.
I still vote for 3.
The 7 above is also missing some dots on the right, so there's an entire vertical strip of erased ink. The numbers are up to 5 dots wide, but the existing 3 only has 4 dots on the bottom. It's possible that a fifth is supposed to be there one spot higher, matching the missing number, but it just got clipped by the erased part.
I'm convinced. I'm team 3.
Actually now I am too. The digits all seem to be normally 5 dots wide.
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(3 replies)
That’s a possibility.
My other argument, though, is that in 2026 February 28 is the end of a month, while March 28 is a random Saturday.
BBD (best by date) is going to be 1 year, or some other legally specified number of days, from the date of manufacturing/canning. It can fall on the end of a month, but not intentionally. 28-Mar-2025 was a Friday.
Ah yes, I'd say 2 is the most likely candidate
Edit: I'm on team 3 now thanks to radix's comment
Another argument in favor of 2 is that February 2026 has 28 days, so 2 is the only digit that would make the date the end of a month.
The BBD year is 2026 and you've already opened the can. Man, if we were roommates and you'd called me downstairs for this...
...I'd hope you'd be just as curious as me as to the mystery digit!
Pass the joint and ~~lemme~~ lemmy have a look at it.
I say 5. Look at the 3 at the top. It has a flat bottom, while the one you want to know does not.
But look at the 3 closer. It's 4 dots wide. It's missing the leftmost column of dots.
Oh yeah, you're right. I missed that lol
edit: but how did you know that the one on the top was missing the curve?
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(1 replies)
Best before date is not a used by date. You can eat something well after a best before date, it just might not be exactly the same as something “fresh”, but still edible. Used by is when there’s a chance for harm.
My vote is “3” even though it doesn’t match the 3 above it.
My vote is to taste and smell the fucking thing. This is what every chef in every kitchen you eat at has always done. That will tell you if it's edible. BBD is a suggestion, so a few months out of date means wildly different things if it's been kept at an average of 20c or 30c.
I've tasted shit that was 5 years past BBD. Didn't taste good, but didn't cause any harm. Trust your taste and smell to tell you what's bad. Evolution spent millions of years tuning your senses.
Looks are also important. Botulism doesn't have a taste or smell, but the can will often be swollen or at least pressurised, so never eat a swollen can.
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(1 replies)
It is a 5.
Nothing left to guess. All others can be ruled out with the dots that we actually see.
2 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the upper left corner.
3 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the lower left corner.
7 can be ruled out because there is one dot wrong in the lower left corner.
I reckon it's a 3 and the other visible 3 has a column missing as well.
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(5 replies)
5 or 9, neither of which show up otherwise, so we can't be quite sure which one matches.
1, 4, and 7 can be thrown right out as the dots just wouldn't line up that way. 0, 2, 3, 6, and 8 have other examples in the image that don't match the dot pattern.
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(3 replies)
I vote for 5 with a lot of missing dots.
If dots didn't move (they sometimes do) only five would have flat top and missing corner.
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(1 replies)
I would guess a number between 0 and 9
I can narrow that down to 1 and 9, because it's definitely not the month of nontober
Lousy Smarch weather
Those printers have small heads and print (in this case) left to right. Most likely it is not missing dots in the same column, which discards the chance of a 5. I would say it is a 3.
If you bought more than one can, check the other ones, as most likely they are from the same batch.
From another angle: who cares! You ate it already, and the BBD year is 2026
A lowercase 8
The moment I saw it I immediately read it as a 3.
I’d say 3
and the 3 that is there is missing a three pixel vertical slice on its left side
That's a fucking J lmao
Ah yes, the 29th of OJ
3
My guess too, but it doesn't match the 3 above
It doesn't match the 3 above because the 3 above is also missing some dots. There is a stripe right down the printing that impacts the unknown number and a 7 on the left and the 3 on the right. It cuts the left most curve of the upper 3 off while also cutting the 7.
I'll vote for eight.
3 is the lower number that could fit there. Other numbers could fit depending on how much erase there was, but 3 is the lowest, thus the safest guess.
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